Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

MKO is committed to working along side with families, communities and leadership towards ensuring the upcoming national inquiry is inclusive of our northern communities. We are also working with the federal government to support immediate actions aimed at addressing a root causes that result in violence against Indigenous women and girls.

There is no greater pain then not knowing what has happened to a loved one. Unfortunately, this is all too common in the Indigenous community where the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch has noted a crisis level of violence against Indigenous women and girls. In fact, the new Liberal government has noted that the amount of Murdered and Missing women could be higher then 4000 victims. Many of these cases have not been solved. What is even more alarming is that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have noted that the government has failed in ensuring that Indigenous women and girls are provided with the same standard of safety as experienced by other Canadians. This has been acknowledged by the current Liberal government who have launched a National Inquiry to explore issues that have resulted in our current crisis.

MKO leadership is committed to supporting the efforts of our northern families in their search for answers. We recognize that our families cannot rest until they know what has happened to their loved ones. As such, addressing the issue of the MMIWG is one of the key priority areas of MKO. It is our hope that this will result in a realization of programs and services that support a reduction in violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls in the future.

Press Release

For Immediate Release

December 14, 2018

Unceded Traditional Territories of the Algonquin Nation, OTTAWA, ON – Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison Hilda Anderson-Pryz provided statements at the Oral Closing Submissions of the Parties with Standing with the National Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Grand Chief’s Open Letter to MMIWG Families

To our Families of our missing and murdered and Survivors of violence,

I would like to begin by acknowledging families and the two-spirit community who have experienced the tragic loss of one of our sisters. My deepest condolences are with you all. To the survivors, your resilience and strength is unimaginable. You have survived horrific violence, from systematic violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking, compounded by racism and patriarchal dominance.